If your fitness instructor admonishes you to "get rid of that ugly fat" or "do whatever it takes to look good," it's time to find another instructor.
A small but growing body of research suggests that thin-obsessed females and muscle-driven males may be drawn to fitness careers and may unconsciously transmit their own distorted perceptions to clients. In the mirrored world of the health club, the role models who teach others how to be healthy and fit may be at increased risk for eating disorders, body dissatisfaction and compulsive exercise.
"Females with previous experience of an eating disorder or a dysfunctional association with food and weight may be attracted to the fitness profession," concludes a study reported in IDEA Health & Fitness Source, a magazine published by a San Diego-based association of fitness professionals. In anonymous surveys completed by 368 female group fitness instructors, 21% of respondents reported having a previous eating disorder. Although 90% of all respondents were underweight or average weight, nearly 43% said they wanted to be thinner.
"Fitness instructors are often idealized, and their desire to have perfect bodies can be intense," says Sharon H. Thompson, the study's lead author and an associate professor of health promotion at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.
Economics plays a role, Thompson says, since employers and clients often pick instructors based on their appearance. But for some instructors, she adds, "teaching fitness classes may provide a culturally appropriate means to justify increased physical activity to maintain their own weight and appearance."
Excessive exercise is not only accepted in the fitness world, Thompson says, it's praised and admired. A former fitness instructor whose own experience with excessive exercise resulted in surgery on both knees at age 30, Thompson says her research was prompted by hearing destructive, "beauty at all cost" messages delivered by some teachers.
"This is not a real popular topic in the profession," Thompson acknowledges. "But we're slowly moving in the direction of more body acceptance. There's an increased recognition that we all have different genes and body shapes, and that you don't exercise for appearance, but for health."
